Debit cards in the form of a wallet sized phone card have become common place in Europe, the United States and especially Latin America because the purchaser of the phone card does not have to establish a special account with the phone company or other telephone service provider. As is well known, the phone card has a personal identification number (PIN), usually printed on the phone card. A scratch-off paint or other coating is typically sprayed or applied by other means onto the printed PIN to cover the PIN. In the most simple type of card, the user purchases the card and scratches off the coating to reveal the PIN contained on the card. The user dials a long distance telephone number belonging to the card issuer and then dials the PIN number contained on the card. The account balance is verified and a call to a desired location completed by having the user dial a long distance telephone company. The phone card account balance is then charged.
In other types of cards, a magnetic strip can be applied onto the phone card to allow replenishing of the phone card via a credit card or other means if insufficient funds are still contained on the phone card. A control number often is established with the card to allow replenishing. Often with phone cards, they must be processed in an automated manner very quickly. The PIN number is typically printed on the card, together with a control number either adjacent to the PIN number or located somewhere else on the card. Thus, either one or two printing steps onto the card are required, and then a separate coding step required to cover the printed PIN. Additionally, if the control code is located adjacent the PIN, then the control number could be accidentally covered under high speed operating conditions.